2026-10-13T07:39:58Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34044530 2026-10-01T11:24:25Z category_13 category_19 category_734 category_64 category_106 category_122 category_133 portal_87 item_type_6 month_year_10_2026

“Weaponised empathy”: concessive capture of progressive values and the affective-semantic inversion of care in platformed far-right discourse Adrián R. Martinez-Levy (25156316) Genetics Pharmacology Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Cancer Science Policy Mental Health Plant Biology Suicidal empathy concessive capture argumentative semantics platformed discourse far-right rhetoric praxeology <p>On 28 February 2025, Elon Musk and Joe Rogan deployed the terms “suicidal empathy,” “empathy exploit,” and “weaponised empathy” to reframe “empathy” not as a moral virtue but as a civilisational liability. The analysis shows that the inversion is not achieved through direct rejection but through a concessive argumentative structure – “I believe in empathy, but … ” – that retains the humanist value on the surface while installing its opposite as conclusion, and that simultaneously constructs the political adversary in pathemic terms as irrational and self-destructive. Once equipped with this structure, the reframed sign circulated across digital uptake, congressional discourse, think-tank messaging and evangelical media within weeks. The article contributes to critical discourse studies and social semiotics by identifying the enunciative mechanism through which platformed authority converts an ideological inversion into common sense – and by tracing how, once normalised, such inversions erode the discursive ground for humanitarian policy and human dignity.</p> 2026-10-01T11:24:25Z Text Journal contribution 10.6084/m9.figshare.34044530.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/_Weaponised_empathy_concessive_capture_of_progressive_values_and_the_affective-semantic_inversion_of_care_in_platformed_far-right_discourse/34044530 CC BY 4.0